


Specscooking

by Seito



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cooking, Crack, Gen, Humor, POV Outsider, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 22:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16504097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/pseuds/Seito
Summary: Cecilia owned her life to Specscooking. The only reason why she was a functioning “fake-it-until-you-make-it” adult was thanks to the NicoTube’s cooking channel vlogger. She would have starved months ago without his videos. She took a great sign that she was doing something right with her life when she moved pass “starving college student” to “not-quite-starving-I-can-cook-my-own-meals-like-a-real-adult”.Who said 3am browsing on the internet was a bad thing?(Or Ignis has a "youtube" cooking channel, Noctis is frequent visitor/taste tester on said videos, and Cecilia is one of Ignis' halpless fans who really just wants to learn cook, please.)





	Specscooking

**Author's Note:**

> [inspired by this kinkmeme prompt](https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/4113.html?thread=6963729#cmt6963729)

Cecilia owned her life to Specscooking. The only reason why she was a functioning “fake-it-until-you-make-it” adult was thanks to the NicoTube’s cooking channel vlogger. She would have starved months ago without his videos. She took a great sign that she was doing something right with her life when she moved pass “starving college student” to “not-quite-starving-I-can-cook-my-own-meals-like-a-real-adult”.

(Who said 3am browsing on the internet was a bad thing?)

~~Cecilia continued to make questionable life decisions.~~

But Specscooking! She had no idea what he actually looked like. His face was always hidden off camera, but he had to be a looker. Always dressed in dressed shirts, dark grays and subtle prints, plus those amazing gloves! She also had no idea what he sounded like either (which was a shame) because he always used text and music (old Lucian Classics her nerd brain supplied) in his videos.

But hot damn were his recipes easy to follow and Cecilia liked to pretend she wasn’t completely helpless in the kitchen.

(Who was she kidding? She nearly burned down the kitchen in her attempt in cooking. Who knew you weren’t supposed to throw water onto an oil fire?)

(She was better!)

(Honest!)

So yeah, Cecilia could be waxing poetic about Specscooking. But honestly, as far as a cooking blog channel went, she couldn’t find a better one. Not only did Specscooking cover the basics of like everything (how to sharpen a knife, how to tell your milk is going bad, how cut onions without crying), he also went over the science behind it all.

Like why she couldn’t just use walnut oil instead of canola oil (which was why she nearly burnt down her place the first time). Something about a smoke point?

Then the cherry on top, he showed the packaging. Like endorsement issues aside, sometimes all Cecilia wanted to know was the brand, okay? Like maybe there wasn’t a difference between buying Lockhart’s Cleigne Wheat vs Farron’s Cleigne Wheat, but she wasn’t going to take the _chance_. She already had enough variables to deal with!

For a beginner cook like Cecilia, Specscooking had everything she needed and then some.

Like Nox.

Adding onto the mystery of who Specscooking was, he had one constant companion in his videos. A black hair teen with a mischievous smile who was always stealing samples as Specscooking was cooking.

Nox, the textboxes had said, the taste tester and picky eater.

Honestly, Cecilia thought he looked a bit like the Crown Prince, but nah. No way. First off, Nox was way too carefree to be the sullen, serious Crown Prince. Second, Nox looked younger. Clearly had to be a look alike and Nox’s parents must of have a poor sense of humor to name their kid after the Crown Prince.

Cecilia’s own name was after the King’s mother apparently. Her parents had a poor sense of humor too.

(It sucked to be named after someone famous, okay? Especially royalty. People kept expecting you to live up to the name and Cecilia had enough on her plate. She had a job and could cook. Wasn’t that enough?)

She sighed to herself, clutching a can of Ebony and sat down to start on today’s newest video. Cecilia let out a strain of hysterical laughter as she recognized the tune of Valse Di Fantastica as the opening theme. Honestly, what did Specscooking do that he knew some of these more obscured Lucian Classics?

(Maybe he was a nerd like her.)

The video displayed the following text:

_Today’s menu was Grilled Wild Barramundi. Nox helped catch the fish today. This is one of his favorite dishes._

Cecilia grabbed her notebook. Fish huh? She could try that.

-.-.-

Cecilia knew three things.

First, she knew absolutely nothing about fish. Second, there were over eight kinds of Barramundi fishes sold in Insomnia. Third, there was a shortage on Schier Turmeric because only one market in all of Insomnia had any in stock.

(That or the 4.4 million followers of Specscooking decided to take up this particular recipe and depleted inventory everywhere. It was honestly possible.)

So here she was at her fourth store of the day and so help her, if they didn’t have Schier Turmeric here, she was going to throw in the towel and go home and attempt okayudon. She could handle chicken.

There! She spotted the the last bottle on the shelf. Cecilia reached out to grab it the same time another hand out of nowhere did the same.

“Hey!” Cecilia protested, turning her head to look.

Standing there, slightly scowling, was a black haired teen that looked like… Nox?

“Your Highness, did you find the Schier Turmeric?”

Cecilia let go of the bottle, turning completely to see this time another man joining them. He had sandy blond hair and green eyes, glasses framing his face nicely. She blinked at Lucian Royal Black jacket, suspiciously familiar printed dress shirt and those gloves…

“Sweet Astrals, you're Specscooking,” Cecilia blurted out.

Then her brain caught up, parsing out what had been said earlier. She swung back. “Your Hi-!”

Nox, no, _Crown Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum,_ leap forward to cover her mouth. “Don't shout,” he ordered.

Fuck. How was this her life?

Prince Noctis pulled his hand away, looking warily at her. Cecilia on the other hand, let out a pitiful whine.

“I can't believe this,” Cecilia said, eyes squeezed shut. She cracked them open and, yup, standing there was still the Crown Prince and Specscooking.

Prince Noctis laughed (and yup, that looked exactly like how Nox laughed, no illusions here.) “It's not every day someone recognizes Ignis before me, and from his NicoTube channel no less,” he said.

(WHY DID SHE USE TO THINK THE CROWN PRINCE WAS SERIOUS?)

Specscooking, Ignis (his name was Ignis!!) pushed his glasses up, smiling. “Nor is it every day someone reacts so negatively to your presence.”

Six, strike her down now. They were making jokes in her presence.

“Nox is Prince Noctis,” Cecilia wailed. “The conspiracy theorists were right. Six, I can't believe it.”

“Conspiracy theorists?” Ignis asked.

(Why did they both have to look so beautiful too?!?)

“You have 4.4 million followers,” Cecilia said, distressed. “If we aren't discussing what you look like, and no surprise you're tragically gorgeous, we're discussing the only other person who shows up in your videos, Nox. And everyone falls into 2 groups, Nox is Prince Noctis or Nox is a lookalike.”

“So I don’t look like the Crown Prince,” Prince Noctis said with that same blasted mischievous smile that Nox had before stealing a piece of food on his face.

“You look too young in the videos!!” Cecilia protested. “And every time you show up on tv, you're always so serious and grim looking!” She remembered the interview Prince Noctis had given for his 18th birthday just last month. So sullen looking as he accepted the congratulations about his birthday. “You should smile more.”

She turned to look at Ignis, suspicion growing. “How old are you?”

Ignis blinked at her, surprised. “Nineteen.”

“Oh fuck. You're barely legal,” Cecilia said. She did not think about the small but still growing fanfiction site she stumbled across. She did not. Absolutely did not. Nor did she think about all the Specscooking/Nox fics. She did not.

~~She totally was.~~

Prince Noctis, _the troll he was_ , just laughed. “Specs does look older than he is,” he agreed.

And that solved the mystery of the username.

Again, how was this her life?

“Wait a minute…” Cecilia said, brows furrowing. “Specscooking is over four years old. Are you telling me that you've been this well put together since you were a young teenager?”

And apparently Prince Noctis barely aged, just grown taller.

“Err yes?” Ignis said.

She glared at him. He was over six years younger than her and _she_ was a hot mess. “That's just not fair. You're like so well put together and you cook. What else? Do you like know the secret to removing stains from clothes and how to set up a retirement plan?”

“I have found Stain-To-BeGone to be the best stain remover. It's a bit pricey but worth it,” Ignis said. “As for a retirement plan, if your current job doesn't offer one, you can always go to your bank and set up an IRA and place a small portion into it with every paycheck.”

Cecilia stared at him, jaw slacked. She looked at Prince Noctis. “Can I keep him?” she asked.

Prince Noctis laughed even harder. “Sorry. No, he's mine.”

“It's not fair,” Cecilia repeated again. “Have you considered doing more than cooking videos? I could use help in being a functional adult.”

“You seem like a functioning adult, Miss-” Ignis trailed off.

“Ah, Cecilia Vasil and thanks?” Cecilia said. “I just fake it until I make it.” She helplessly shrugged. Her life was a disaster and she knew it.

“Ignis Scientia,” Ignis smoothly introduced himself. He gestured to Prince Noctis. “And His Highness, of course.”

Prince Noctis looked amused. “And nothing wrong with faking it until you make it. It's what everyone does, even me.”

‘You're the last person I want telling me that,’ Cecilia thought with a panic. How could her future King tell her that he wasn't a functioning adult (teenager? Not yet an adult?) Well… then again, royalty or not, Prince Noctis was human and it would be awfully hypocritical of her to say he should be a functioning adult when she, seven years older, could not do it.

“That's fair,” she said. “Adulting is hard.”

Prince Noctis and Ignis blinked at her, surprised.

Did… she do something wrong???? Oh Six, she should have curtsey when they did introductions right? Fuck. Why was it, despite living in Insomnia, no one actually taught you how to properly address royalty? Sure there were thousands of people living in Insomnia and the odds of a commoner meeting the Royal Family outside of an actual crown function was small. But as it clearly just happened, Cecilia was regretting everything in her life.

“Okay…” she said. “You can have the last bottle of Schier Turmeric if I can ask two more questions.”

“Sure,” Prince Noctis said.

“The reason why I wanted the Schier Turmeric is because of your newest video,” Cecilia said.

“Ah the Grilled Wild Barramundi dish,” Ignis said.

“Right, so there are eight different types of Barramundi fillets being sold and you didn’t specify which one,” Cecilia said.

“An oversight on my part, apologies,” Ignis said. “Crag Barramundi or Striped Barramundi work best.”

Cecilia pulled out her notebook. “Okay. Crag or Striped. Got it.” She would try the recipe later.

“If you need the Schier Turmeric for your recipe, we certainly don’t need it right now,” Ignis said.

Cecilia shook her head. “Oh no, my nerves are way too shot to deal with a new recipe today. I’m going to go home and make your Veggie Medley Stew recipe. Veggies won’t kill me when I try to make it,” she said with a light touch of a hysterical laughter. Honestly, fish was still kinda daunting and 9 out of 10 times, she ended up with a ruined fillet unless she bought them pre-cut.

She noticed Prince Noctis scrunched up his face at the mention of vegetables. Oh, Sweet Astrals. Nox hated vegetables. That meant Prince Noctis hated vegetables. This was so surreal.

Ignis smiled. “Excellent choice and easy to make. The second question?”

“How do I make a birthday cake?” Cecilia asked. Because next month was her mom’s birthday and she wanted to do something to prove her cooking skills weren’t just a flaming trash can. “Or can your next video be about birthday cakes? Or something awesome-y but easy that you could feed to a parent and you know, reassure them that you’re not a complete mess in the kitchen?”

“I will endeavor to do so,” Ignis said with a small laugh.

She was making a fool of herself in front of them. But hey, her mother would appreciate it.

“Great! Thanks,” Cecilia said.

Ignis glanced at his watch. “Oh dear, we're going to be late, Your Highness.” He handed her a business card.

“Don't let me keep you,” Cecilia said, accepting the business card numbingly. She fumbled with a bow. “Nice meeting you!”

Yup, nothing to see here.

-.-.-

From: Sola [Sent 2:30pm] DID YOU SEE THE NEWEST SPECSCOOKING VIDEO????  
From: Sola [Sent 2:30pm] why didnt u tell me????  
  
From: dumb bro [Sent 2:45pm] hey when did you meet that weird cooking guy you like?  
  
From: Amici [Sent 3:49pm] ??????????? ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT YOU?  
From: Amici [Sent 3:50pm] Sweet Astrals, what the hell Ce! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING?!

Cecilia stared at her phone, stomach sinking. She had been stuck in the most mind numbing meeting all day at work. It meant she didn't get a chance to check her phone throughout the day because she was too busy pretending to be a competent employee to her boss.

Ignoring the texts, she fired up Specscooking’s channel and saw a new video posted. A Birthday Cake video.

Oh fuck. They actually did it. Oh fuck.

She clicked on the video and there was ~~Nox~~ , Prince Noctis, mischievous grin and all, facing the camera with notepad of paper.

_This video is at the request of Cecilia. Hi Cecilia!_

Prince Noctis flipped the page.

_Thanks for letting us have the last bottle of Schier Turmeric! Specs says he hopes when you finally attempt the Grilled Wild Barramundi dish that it comes out great._

Cecilia let out a strangled sound. By the Six. Prince Noctis was an absolute troll. Why the fuck did she think he was a stoic serious prince?!?!

_Specs also said if you want more life advice, you know how to find him. Though he thinks he has nothing to offer as he thinks you’re doing a fine job. I say take him up on the offer. He gives the best advice._

Of course he would! She had gone home and looked up who exactly Ignis Scientia was. Not only was he a Count (an actual Count! She met two nobles that day!) but he was Prince Noctis’ Adviser.

Just like not fair. Rich, handsome, had a great job, knew more about adulting than Cecilia and an amazing cook. You couldn’t get anymore put together.

The business card with Ignis’ email address was sitting innocently in her bag still.

Prince Noctis then frowned at the camera as he flipped to the next page.

_Still mine tho. You can’t have him._

Somewhere in a dark corner of the internet, the Specscooking/Nox fandom must be exploding. Not that Cecilia would know anything about it. Nope, not at all.

Cecilia let out a hysterical laughter. It was that or cry.

Prince Noctis grinned and flipped to the last page.

_Tell your mom happy birthday! Hope you find this recipe easy enough to follow._

The video switched back to Ignis’ kitchen.

Cecilia hit paused and groaned. “How is this my life?!” she asked, looking up at the ceiling.

Then she opened up a new tab for MoogleSearch. She typed into the search bar ‘How to Write Royalty a Letter’ and hit search. She pulled up another search of ‘How to yell at someone politely’. The last one ‘Is it illegal to throw a pie at Royalty?’ because she was mildly crazy.

As the results loaded on her screen, Cecilia sighed. “No one is going to believe me.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Cecilia is a hot mess and I can relate. Look she even puts more effort into learning how to cook than I do. 
> 
> (I'm very envious of Ignis' ability to adult properly.) 
> 
> Please leave a review on your way out.


End file.
